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Thursday, 4 August 2016

362) “Ter-centenary of the martyrdom of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur (1716-2016)”: A Special Cover issued by Delhi Postal Circle, Department of Posts, India on 20.06.2016:

362)
“Ter-centenary of the martyrdom of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur (1716-2016)”: A
Special Cover issued by Delhi Postal Circle, Department of Posts, India on
20.06.2016:

The Front of the Special
Cover

The Front of the Special
Cover is titled “Baba Banda Singh Bahadur
Ki Shahidi Ki Tritiya Shatabdi” (in Hindi) and “Ter-centenary Martyrdom of
Baba Banda Singh Bahadur” (in English). The Ter-Centenary years “1716-2016” are
given below the inscription.

Below the title is an
image of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur resting on a brick wall, in his battle gear
with his weapons. In the background are Sikh soldiers also in their battle
gear. The Rs.5/- stamp is titled “National Archives of India” which was issued
in 2015. The Cancellation stamp is titled “Baba
Banda Singh Bahadur Ki Shahidi Ki Tritiya Shatabdi” (in Hindi) and
“Ter-centenary Martyrdom of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur” (in English) –
“1716-2016”. In the Centre of the Cancellation Stamp is mentioned “300 Years”.
The Cancellation is of New Delhi and is dated “20.06.2016”.

The Back of the Special
Cover

On the Back of the Special
Cover is mentioned in Punjabi, Hindi and English –

“Baba Banda Singh Bahadur
(1670-1716) was an exemplary Martyr, a brave warrior, courageous and great
General, as well as, an architect of the first Sikh Empire in Punjab (North
India).”

The issuing/approving
authority, Chief Postmaster General, Delhi Postal Circle, New Delhi, along with
the approval number DEL/15/2016 are also mentioned on the Back.

About
Baba Banda Singh Bahadur (27.10.1670 -09.06.1716):

I came to know of Baba
Banda Singh Bahadur, when I visited the Paonta Sahib Gurudwara, near Dehradun,
a few years ago and visited the museum of Sikh history on the Gurudwara
premises. An elderly Sikh gentleman narrated the story of Baba Banda Singh to me
as we were going through the history gallery and I have admired him ever since.
When I learnt that a Special Cover has been brought out on the Ter-Centenary of
his martyrdom, I booked it for my philatelic collection of Indian martyrs who
fought selflessly for the freedom of the motherland over the ages.

Baba Banda Singh Bahadur was
given the name of Lachman Dev at birth. He was born into a Rajput family which
is a martial race.

At the age of fifteen he left home to become
an ascetic and, in the company of wandering “Sadhus” (ascetics), he travelled over many places. As an ascetic,
he took on the name of Madho Das.

During his wanderings, he
met Guru Gobind Singh at Kankhal, near Haridwar (UttraKhand State). Later, he established a monastery at
Nanded on the banks of the river Godavari.

His
conversion to Sikhism and made a Commander of the Sikh forces:

On 03.09.1708, he
was visited by Guru Gobind Singh and he became a Sikh. At a Durbar held at
Nanded, Guru Gobind Singh conferred upon him the title of Banda Singh Bahadur
and invested him with full political and military authority as his deputy to
carry on the national struggle in Punjab and instructed him to go to Punjab to
fight the Mughals at the head of a Sikh army and to punish Wazir Khan who was
the Governor of Sirhind and his supporters.

The Guru gave him a
standard arrow and a kettle-drum which were the symbols of temporal authority. He was
also given an advisory council of five devoted Khalsa – Baj Singh, a descendant
of the family of the third Guru, Amar Das, his brother Ram Singh, Binod Singh,
who had descended from Guru Angad Dev the second Guru, his son Kahan Singh and
Fateh Singh. 25 soldiers were given to him as his bodyguard. The Guru also gave
him his own sword, a green bow and five arrows from his quiver. 300 Sikh
cavaliers in battle array accompanied Baba Banda Singh to a distance of about 8
kilometres to give him a final send-off.

On
a mission to defeat the Mughal armies and setting up the First Sikh Empire:

Having got the blessings
of Guru Gobind Singh, Baba Banda Singh Bahadur assembled a fighting force and began
by capturing Mughal held territories of Sonepat and Kaithal.

Guru
Gobind Singh was severely wounded by a Pathan assassin, set on him by Wazir
Khan with the connivance of the court nobles. The sending of Baba Banda Singh
to fight the Mughals had also infuriated the Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah. As a
result of his injuries, Guru Gobind Singh passed away on 07.10.1708.

Infuriated, the Sikh army
led by Baba Banda Singh Bahadur in 1709, defeated the Mughal forces in
the Battle of Samana, which was the Mughal Provincial capital. Baba
Banda Singh’s forces captured the city of Samana killing more than 10,000
soldiers and irregular combatants. Samana had a large coining mint and
Treasury which came under his control. This
made the Sikh army financially secure.

Thereafter, the victorious
Sikh Army captured Mustafabad, Sadhora (near Jagadhri) and the Cis-Sutlej
territories of Punjab, including Ghurham, Kapori, Banoor, Malerkotla and Nahan.

On 12.05.1710, in
the Battle of Chappar Chiri, the Sikhs overwhelmed a numerically far
superior army of Sirhind led by Wazir Khan, the Governor of Sirhind and Dewan
Suchanand, who had been responsible for the martyrdom of the two youngest sons
of Guru Gobind Singh. Both Wazir Khan and Dewan Suchanand were killed in the
fiercely fought battle and the Sikh Army captured Sirhind.

Baba Banda Singh had by
now established his authority in Punjab over the territories from the Sutlej to
the Yamuna and he immediately granted property rights to the farmers who could
now live with dignity and respect.

Setting
up the Capital of the Sikh Empire and continuous victories for the Sikh Armies
worry the Mughal Emperor:

Baba Banda Singh made
Mukhlisgarh his capital and renamed the city “Lohgarh” (meaning the
“fortress of steel”). A coining mint was established at Lohgarh and coins
minted there bore the inscription “Struck in the City of Peace, illustrating
the beauty of civic life and the ornament of the blessed throne”.

He briefly established a State
in Punjab for about half a year. During this period, Banda Singh’s armies
fanned out to Uttar Pradesh, where they took Saharanpur, Jalalabad,
Muzaffarnagar and other territories and brought relief to the repressed public.
In the territories of Jalandhar and Amritsar, the Sikhs fought for the rights
of the people. Defeating the Mughals at the Battle of Rahon in 1710, whose
administration was riddled with corruption, honest administrators were
appointed everywhere.

Upon receiving complaints
that the landlords at Sadaura town were harassing the farmers, he marched upon
Sadhaura, defeating the Sayyids and Shaikhs in the Battle of Sadhaura,
whereafter, he abolished the Zamindari System.

The Mughal Emperor had by
now sat up and taken notice of Baba Banda Singh’s successes and all the Mughal
armies hitherto concentrating on subduing Rajputana (present day Rajasthan)
were ordered to march upon Baba Banda Singh and to subdue him.

Baba Banda Singh was in
Uttar Pradesh, when a Mughal Army under Munim Khan took Sirhind and the
neighbouring areas. The Sikhs moved to Lohgarh and defeated the Mughal army,
which called in for reinforcements and laid siege to Lohgarh with more than 60,000
troops.

A plan was hatched to
enable Baba Banda Singh to break the Mughal cordon. His trusted commander,
Gulab Singh dressed himself as Baba Banda Singh and seated himself in place of
the Baba. Meanwhile, Baba Banda Singh left the fort at night and went to a
secret place in the hills and Chamba forests.

The
failure of the Mughal armies to capture Baba Banda Singh infuriated Bahadur
Shah, the Mughal emperor, who ordered that every Sikh found anywhere should be
killed immediately. Baba Banda Singh’s escape became a nightmare for the Mughal
emperor and he became mentally disturbed and died on 18.02.1712.

The
Sikh Armies regroup:

Meanwhile, Banda Singh
sent missives to all the Sikhs to regroup under his banner once again.

In 1712, the Sikh
army assembled at Kiratpur Sahib and defeated Raja Ajmer Chand who had led the
Hill Rajas (Princely States) to fight against Guru Gobind Singh on behalf of
the Mughals. Ajmer Chand was killed in
battle and the other States accepted their vassal status to Baba Banda Singh.

Meanwhile, as succession
machinations were on among the four sons of Bahadur Shah Zafar at Delhi, Banda
Singh recaptured Sadhura and Lohgarh from the Mughals.

In 1713, the Sikhs
went to the remote hills of Jammu where they built another city – Dera Baba
Banda Singh.

Also, as the earlier
orders to hunt down every Sikh had not been rescinded by the Mughals and Sikhs
were being hunted down, Banda Singh attacked and captured the fortified Mughal
territories of Kalanaur and Batala, which riled the new Mughal Emperor Farrukh
Siyar who sent heavy reinforcements to Lahore to shore up his positions.

In March 1715, Baba
Banda Singh Bahadur was in Gurdaspur, Punjab, when an army of about 100,000
regular Mughal troops laid siege to the small Gurdas Nangal Sikh fort. The Sikhs fought and defended their
position for about 8 months till they ran out of resources.

Baba
Banda Singh and his men captured by the Mughals:

In 1716, Baba Banda
Singh was captured and put in an iron cage. The remaining Sikhs numbering 780
were brought in a procession to Delhi as prisoners. 2,000 heads of slain Sikh
warriors were hung on spears and about 700 cart-loads of heads of Sikh soldiers
and civilians were brought in a procession to terrorize the populace in Mughal
territories.

The
prisoners showed no signs of dejection or bitterness and seemed to be happy
with their lot, singing their Guru’s hymns in groups. If anyone remarked that
they were being punished for their sins their unanimous retort was that it was
in accordance with God’s will.

In Delhi Fort the 780
Sikhs were pressurised to give up their faith and convert to Islam to save
their lives. On each one refusing to convert, every day 100 Sikhs were brought
out of the Fort and murdered in public. Each man went to his martyrdom calmly
with complete devotion to his Faith and resolute will, saying a prayer.

There
is an instance of a boy who was newlywed, the only son of a widowed mother who
pleaded with the Emperor that her son had been beguiled into joining the Sikh
troops, but was not a Sikh at heart. The Emperor wrote out a pardon for the boy
and the mother brought it to the officer in charge of the executions, but the
boy shouted that he was a true Sikh at heart and that he should be executed
with his comrades. Every time he was pushed out of the line, he appeared at the
front of the queue again and again till he was executed.

Baba Banda Singh’s son was killed before his
eyes and he was put under severe torture (along with 25 of his senior
Commanders) for about three months and his eyes were gouged out and his limbs
dismembered, before he was martyred.

A
memorial to the valour of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur:

In November 2011, a
war memorial was inaugurated at the place where the Battle of Chappar Chiri was
fought, to honour the valour of the brave Sikh soldiers who fought there.

An image of the
Fateh Burj

The 328 feet tall “Fateh Burj” (Victory Tower) was
dedicated to Baba Banda Singh Bahadur, which is the tallest tower in India. The
Fateh Burj is octagonal in shape and has a dome at the top of the tower with a
“Khanda” made of stainless steel.

On 20.06.2016,
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the Chief Guest at an event held to
commemorate the 300th Martyrdom Anniversary of Baba Banda Singh
Bahadur.

About Me

I am Rajeev Prasad, a retired State Bank of India officer who had been collecting coins in a shoe box without having a serious interest. Only after quitting my job I got the time to take serious interest in developing my coin collection into a hobby. A pity, because I would have had more opportunity to lay my hands on more 'exclusive coins' while in the Bank. Anyway, as they say,better late than never. If you have any views to share with me regarding this blog , please contact me on my email rajeevprasad1208@gmail.com. I also have a twitter account @prasad_rajeev.
I had an opportunity to participate in a Documentary on the life and times of the 25 paise coin titled “Chal Basi Chavanni” (The four anna/twenty five paise coin passes away), aired by STAR NEWS on 29th and 30th June 2011. The programme helped in making many persons hold back onto their “chavannis”, the little round beauties, instead of returning them to Banks .